Thanks for the reply Nottslad, much appreciated. After posting the original message my friend (who received our bill from Eon recently) informed me that the bill had an actual meter reading given to Eon by 'us' on the 15th January 2006 and this is what they had based the bill on. The rest of the readings were estimates. I moved in on the 14th January 2006 so I assume it was the letting agents that gave them the reading. There is also an account number on the bill, does this mean that they should have sent us an occupier bill after the reading was sent to them? So when I called them and they said they had no record of the property etc. they in fact did have a record and a meter reading. How does this affect the application of the code? Regards, Pigeon

Hi all, I moved into a newbuild flat in January 2006. It was my first time in a newbuild and my first house where I had to organise utilities etc.. (normally someone else did that and I just paid them what I owed - much easier then!) The tenancy agreement said the electricity supplier was powergen so I telephoned them to inform them that I was the new tenant and they said they had no record of the meter and I needed an 'mpan' number if I remember rightly. The meter for the flat was in a communal cupboard for which I did not have the key and I tried unsuccessfully for several weeks to obtain the key from the letting agents. Suffice to say I grew tired of this and eventually forgot about it (I'd just started a new job, the heating wasn't working and there were numerous problems with the flat - which is another much longer story - so my mind was elsewhere at the time). I think it was about 3 months later when I received a letter from powergen addressed 'Dear customer' asking for information about me, when I moved in, meter serial number, name of developer and a few other details. Now, since it was that long ago I cannot remember if I called them or not informing them of how I could not access the meter cupboard, I am sure I did but it was that long ago I can't be sure, let alone prove it!! I moved out in October 2007 and my friend who I was sharing with took over the lease (we were joint tenants before that). My friend moved out about a month and a half ago and has just received a bill for the past 3 years of over £3000. This is the first contact we have had from Eon/Powergen since that initial letter described earlier. I suspect the letter was blanket delivered to all flats in the building and could easily have been lost or not passed on by estate agents/landlords managing properties in the building to new tenants. I've since moved into another newbuild and this time I received bills and letters from the utility companies which had the address registered and were taking readings already so it was much more straightforward. Isn't this how it is supposed to be? I've had a read of the forums and taken a look at the code of practice which has a section on companies not charging for more than 12 months in arrears if they have not sent a bill out before. Does this apply in my situation? Does it matter if I cannot prove I called them to say I could not access the meter cupboard? Please help!! Regards, Pigeon